Godbringer

Chapter 4

The guards were careful not to leave any slack on the ropes around my wrists. My anger from the trial had subsided, leaving only disbelief. Was I really sentenced to death? The thought of being less than 24 hours away from my end incapacitated my body and overflowed my mind. My senses were so overwhelmed, the world began morphing around me. The halls bended and the roof lowered. My arms and legs stretched away from my body and my fingers had no feeling. Was I really sentenced to death?

One of the guards clapped in front of my face, snapping me back to reality. He materialized, as if out of thin air.

"Hey, get moving," another said from behind, shoving my shoulder to jumpstart my movements.

"He's losing it," I hear another guard behind me say.

We went down the long hall of cells until we came to the end. The guard that escorted me jammed the key into the lock and swung open the door with a heavy groan.

"In you go," the other said, once again shoving me. I stutter step, unprepared for the momentum, and fall into the cell. I caught myself before I hit the ground, but made no effort to rise again.

"Hey, hey, what're you leaving him with me for," a voice said from the back of the cell. The outline of a figure leaning against the wall was all I could make out of the source.

"You're both due to die tomorrow," the guard said, slamming the cell shut. "Maybe you'll save us some trouble. If you do, I'll make your death as painless as possible," and he let out a laugh as he turned and walked away.

"Whatever, asshole," the voice mutters after him. Then the body moved closer to me, and fear set in. Is this person going to murder me? I felt a hand on my back. Long, slender fingers run up my spine up to my head. Then holding my head with one hand, their other grabs my shoulder and flips me over so I face them. A young girl looks down at me. Her short black hair matches the dark pits she had for pupils. Her face, while streaked with light scars, had a softness to it. She stood up, looking down at me. Then her eyes brighten, like she remembered something and turns to the back of the cell.

"Wait right here," she said as she floats to the back of the cell and starts fiddling with a brick in the wall. I attempt to sit up with my hands still bound, using my legs as a counter weight to give me momentum. By the time I look back over at the girl I notice the shiny metal knife she had taken from the wall. Fear washed over me again as she made her way back toward me. I clambered my way to the far wall of the cell but before I could retaliate she had caught me. I closed my eyes, waiting for the blade to pierce my body. But instead I hear the blade sawing. As I slowly opened my eyes I saw the girl cutting the bonds around my wrists. She looked over at me, and smiled dryly, trying to put me at ease.

"I'm not a murderer," is all she said as the knife cut through and the rope fell to the floor. She hurried back and returned the knife to the hole in the wall and replaced the brick she removed.

"So why are you here," she asks, shifting the brick to make it appear undisturbed.

"I think the guard said because we're both supposed to die tomorrow," I answered.

"No, I mean why are you here? What did you do to end up with the death sentence?" She said back, with a twinge of annoyance in her voice.

"Oh, I-I attacked a guard. He turned out to be the Foreman's son." I admitted, slightly embarrassed at my first answer. "What about you," I answer back, not sure where else to go with the conversation.

"Well, this isn't my first time in the death cell," she said with almost too much pride in her voice.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "So. . . what? Do they resurrect you when they want to kill you again?" I asked, jokingly.

"No, you idiot," she snaps. "I escaped. But they caught me and dragged me back to this hellhole," she gestures around her.

"Wait. So, a death sentence prisoner escapes, and they catch her. Why not just kill you on the spot? N-no offence!"

She sighs deeply, "I'm prisonborn."

"You're what?" I asked, confused

"Prisonborn. My grandfather committed some heinous crime, and was sentenced to 3 lifetimes in jail because they decided death was too good for him. So my pregnant mother was jailed once he died, and I was born here, and took my mother's place when she passed. Since I escaped once already, I guess they decided I've served enough time and now I'm to die by hanging tomorrow before the sun rises."
"That's when I hang too," I say, slightly relieved I wasn't going to be up there alone, until the morbidity of the situation sunk in.

We chuckled awkwardly, the reality of our imminent death taking over our thoughts. We sat in the cell, silent, for that felt like hours. Small dots of sunlight pierced through the wall showed the progression of the day. For some reason, it seemed as if the sun set faster today than any other. Eventually, the dots of light moved from the floor to the wall. Then she asked me a question.

"Hey, what's it like. . . out there?" I looked at her, wondering how to respond. She hadn't experienced anything beyond this jail cell. Would telling her hurt her, or relieve her?

"It's nothing special," I replied, not wanting to raise her hopes or dash her spirits.

"Nothing special? Well it's better than in here, isn't it?" She said back.

"It's different. I've never left the city. There are walls around the settlement, and a castle on top of the hill."

"What did you want to do," she asks.

"What do you mean," I say, sitting up.

"Everyone has dreams, wishes, goals in life. I wanted to be free. Live a life outside of these walls. Discover things I didn't know existed," she explains, then repeats her question, leaning toward me. "What did you want out of your life?"

I sat there, not sure how to answer. I hadn't thought about my future, I only thought about immediate needs, my survival. I didn't have a plan or a goal. So I lied.

"I want to be rich. I want to be able to buy whatever I want. I never want to worry about being hungry or poor again," and as I talked, my lie started blurring with the truth. "I want to live free of worry and pain. I want to leave this place, this place that has caused me so much pain. I guess. . . I just want to be happy and safe." I laid back down on my back, not in the mood to talk anymore. I just want to be happy and safe.

The sun no longer shined through the wall, and the guards came by and threw a piece of bread in between the bars of the cell.

"Eat up," he said and walked away.

The girl and I tear the roll in half, both eating it in small bites to make the small piece of bread last longer.

"Hey, I never asked you, what's your name," the girl says.

"I'm Xander. Well, Alexander is my full name," I answered. "What's yours?"

"My name is Hessa," she said with a smile.

With introductions out of the way, Hessah and I laid down, too tired to fight off sleep. Tomorrow we will wake to meet our end, but tonight, we could enjoy each other's company. I drifted off to sleep, hoping maybe I will meet her in my next life.